JABONERO, JESSA A.

2BSTM-A

1.Auguste Comte

The French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857)—often called the “father of

sociology”—first used the term “sociology” in 1838 to refer to the scientific study of

society. He believed that all societies develop and progress through the following

stages: religious, metaphysical, and scientific. Comte argued that society needs

scientific knowledge based on facts and evidence to solve its problems—not

speculation and superstition, which characterize the religious and metaphysical stages

of social development. Comte viewed the science of sociology as consisting of two

branches: dynamics, or the study of the processes by which societies change;

and statics, or the study of the processes by which societies endure. He also

envisioned sociologists as eventually developing a base of scientific social knowledge

that would guide society into positive directions.

2.Herbert Spencer

The 19th‐century Englishman Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) compared society to a

living organism with interdependent parts. Change in one part of society causes change

in the other parts, so that every part contributes to the stability and survival of society as

a whole. If one part of society malfunctions, the other parts must adjust to the crisis and
contribute even more to preserve society. Family, education, government, industry, and

religion comprise just a few of the parts of the “organism” of society.

Spencer suggested that society will correct its own defects through the natural process

of “survival of the fittest.” The societal “organism” naturally leans toward homeostasis, or

balance and stability. Social problems work themselves out when the government

leaves society alone. The “fittest”—the rich, powerful, and successful—enjoy their status

because nature has “selected” them to do so. In contrast, nature has doomed the

“unfit”—the poor, weak, and unsuccessful—to failure. They must fend for themselves

without social assistance if society is to remain healthy and even progress to higher

levels. Governmental interference in the “natural” order of society weakens society by

wasting the efforts of its leadership in trying to defy the laws of nature.

3. Karl Marx

Karl Marx (1818–1883), who observed society's exploitation of the poor by the rich and

powerful. Marx argued that Spencer's healthy societal “organism” was a falsehood.

Rather than interdependence and stability, Marx claimed that social conflict, especially

class conflict, and competition mark all societies.

The class of capitalists that Marx called the bourgeoisie particularly enraged him.

Members of the bourgeoisie own the means of production and exploit the class of

laborers, called the proletariat, who do not own the means of production. Marx believed

that the very natures of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat inescapably lock the two
classes in conflict. But he then took his ideas of class conflict one step further: He

predicted that the laborers are not selectively “unfit,” but are destined to overthrow the

capitalists. Such a class revolution would establish a “class‐free” society in which all

people work according to their abilities and receive according to their needs. Unlike

Spencer, Marx believed that economics, not natural selection, determines the

differences between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He further claimed that a

society's economic system decides peoples' norms, values, mores, and religious

beliefs, as well as the nature of the society's political, governmental, and educational

systems. Also unlike Spencer, Marx urged people to take an active role in changing

society rather than simply trusting it to evolve positively on its own.

4. Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) did a person systematically apply scientific methods to

sociology as a discipline. A French philosopher and sociologist, Durkheim stressed the

importance of studying social facts, or patterns of behavior characteristic of a particular

group. The phenomenon of suicide especially interested Durkheim. But he did not limit

his ideas on the topic to mere speculation. Durkheim formulated his conclusions about

the causes of suicide based on the analysis of large amounts of statistical data collected

from various European countries.

Durkheim certainly advocated the use of systematic observation to study sociological

events, but he also recommended that sociologists avoid considering people's attitudes
when explaining society. Sociologists should only consider as objective “evidence” what

they themselves can directly observe. In other words, they must not concern

themselves with people's subjective experiences.

5. Max Weber

The German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) disagreed with the “objective

evidence only” position of Durkheim. He argued that sociologists must also consider

people's interpretations of events—not just the events themselves. Weber believed that

individuals' behaviors cannot exist apart from their interpretations of the meaning of their

own behaviors, and that people tend to act according to these interpretations. Because

of the ties between objective behavior and subjective interpretation, Weber believed that

sociologists must inquire into people's thoughts, feelings, and perceptions regarding

their own behaviors. Weber recommended that sociologists adopt his method of

Verstehen (vûrst e hen), or empathetic understanding. Verstehen allows sociologists to

mentally put themselves into “the other person's shoes” and thus obtain an “interpretive

understanding” of the meanings of individuals' behaviors.

6. W.E.B. Du Boi

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) believed that his life acquired its only

deep significance through its participation in what he called “the Negro problem,” or,

later, “the race problem.” Whether that is true or not, it is difficult to think of anyone, at
any time, who examined the race problem in its many aspects more profoundly,

extensively, and subtly than W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois was an activist and a journalist, a

historian and a sociologist, a novelist, a critic, and a philosopher—but it is the race

problem that unifies his work in these many domains.

Du Bois contributes to our specifically philosophical understanding of race and the race

problem, because he treats these themes as objects of philosophical consideration—

indeed, it is largely through an engagement with Du Bois’s work that many

contemporary philosophers have come to appreciate race and race-related concerns as

fruitful topics of philosophical reflection. Through his work in social philosophy, political

philosophy, and the philosophy of art, Du Bois, for all intents and purposes, invented the

field of philosophy and race, thereby unsettling and revising our views of the proper

scope and aims of philosophical inquiry.

7. Georg Simmel

A German philosopher and sociologist, Georg Simmel (1858-1918) is frequently cited as

one of the founders of sociology. His work is at times impressionistic, covering a wide

range of issues and ideas. His most consistent and rigorous development of a sociology

is known as formal sociology. In it he studies the forms that govern diverse social

relationships (such as triadic and dyadic relationships, or relationships of superordination

and subordination). The study of forms extends to the examination of various types or

roles under which humans are labelled and organise their actions (such as the stranger,

the adventurer, the miser, the prostitute) and looks at diverse phenomena of
contemporary social life, including fashion (Simmel 1957), the city (Simmel 1950b) and

sexuality (Oakes 1984). Because many of his finest and most insightful writings are in

essay form, rather than in the form of extended and rigorously defended treatises, his

foundational position is more contested than that of Marx, Weber or Durkheim. Simmel

has, however, much to offer, particularly in understanding the experience of the individual

in contemporary society.

8. Talcott Parsons

Alcott Parsons was an American sociologist and one of the founders of functionalism

in the social sciences. When he was born in 1902, his father, Edward Smith Parsons,

was a Congregationalist Minister and the president of Colorado College, and a

professor of English. Talcott Parsons' father later became the president of Marietta

College in Ohio. The family was one of the oldest in America, descended from the

famous theologian Jonathan Edwards. Their line is through Edward's eldest daughter

Sarah who married Elihu Parsons. This lineage means they are also closely related to

Vice President Aaron Burr, whose mother was Jonathan Edwards' younger daughter

Esther Edwards Burr. Talcott Parsons was very well connected to a student of society

and how it functions.